ADMITTING DEFEAT

Рет қаралды 2,077

Ай бұрын

This video is part of an ongoing series - like a vlog - about our project aiming to RESTORE soil fertility in Valle de los Pedroches in Andalusia, Spain.
We are located in a landscape called Dehesa in Spanish. It is like an oak savanna and is said to be very biodiverse. However, much of it has been overgrazed and the yearly drought of 6 months with NO RAIN makes recovery difficult. Many good practices from other climate zones with frequent rainfall DO NOT WORK here and have contributed to the bad situation in the past.
First and foremost we are restoring soil fertility and DO NOT AIM to deliver a product into any market at this time. We are not doing agriculture or ranching in order to produce something and turn a profit. We see PROFITABILITY as an OUTCOME that will emerge ONCE we have restored the land.
Learn more about our project at: www.caimito.eu You might also visit our shop there to support this project.
If you want to know more who is behind this project: www.stephan-schwab.com/links
Locations in this video might be referred to using a designator. A custom map allows you to better follow along: www.google.com/maps/d/embed?m...
Some simple guidelines for commenting:
- Questions are far more helpful to other viewers than suggestions
- You are watching past events and we might have solved issues or moved on already
- Most people live in temperate climate zones with ample rainfall and good agricultural practices from there might not apply on our land.
- You are watching us learning and we all want to enjoy the journey and knowledge acquisition. Please refrain from telling us how something has to be done as your situation most certainly is vastly different than ours.
- Understand that culture, rules and regulations vary around the world. Be respectful when speaking about the people you see in the video.

Пікірлер: 39

@Greengate777 Ай бұрын

Before I even press play: Defeat, is a data point. A valuable one.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

It most certainly is

@b_lumenkraft Ай бұрын

It might seem as a defeat for you but for your future you it's a win because you learned something. ;)

@conan2735 Ай бұрын

i truly believe that the dehesa could be green all through summer, i think the main obstacle for perenials to establish themselves is the low water table. I would spend your summer digging as much earthworks as you can in order to catch the next rain season. moisten that soil up longer having myceleum etc established to help retain water in the soil. You already know all of this so dont lose faith, you're a pioneer of European permaculture/regreening.

@meerfixe Ай бұрын

I agree 100%. On top of that I truly believe most people watching this kind of content really love watching people digging swales for exactly this reason. Rejuvenating groundwater tables is a very satisfying thing! And important as well!

@srantoniomatos Ай бұрын

The dehesa can be mostly green all summer. Already is, in part. Is just missing more trees and srubs. Like more holm and cork oaks, pines, oleander, and many others natives. If one wants to go wild and risky he can even spread exotics adapted to very dry climates. From eucaliptus too pawlonias, from albizias to acacias... Of course, if its too dense, its not a dehesa anymore. Because a dehesa includes grass for grazing...pigs, goats, and small mamals...of course, that s not comercially viable, so it adds cost. more earthworks is just even more costly, and not much to add, unless one drills for water, and that is the main problem in the region. Feel that people are trying to reinvent the wheel, and complicating (cost and work) the equation even more.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Low water table as a consequence of overgrazing by set stocking instead of rotational grazing or transhumance. As a consequence of that the perennials disappeared and also the shrubs.

@srantoniomatos Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito low water table in that area is mostly because the most intensive greehouse farmming in europe is done there, sucking drilled water from aquafiers. Add a few dryer years (last 4 before this one) and the situation can be dramatic. Over grazing really can deplete the area of small srubs and new trees, but if you just leave it to rest untouched ot can take a really long time before natives come back and fill the spaces, and probably you will have lots of cistus and brambles everywhere , in a transition that can take decades. You live in a dry area, on the edge of going to desert or going to forest, if you let grasses oxidate on the ground. If you want more shade and forestry greenery it would help to plant trees and srubs, mostly natives, or at least plants that can survive without much care and irrigation, at least in a few pockets spread around, so it can reseed the area. Anyway, at least corks and holms, you already have by the thousands, trying to grow, since there is no frazing nor mowing for several years.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

@@srantoniomatos We are NOT in Almeria. There is a link to the map in the channel header and also on www.caimito.eu you can see where we are.

@dougayers7517 Ай бұрын

I'd say go back and review one of the earlier videos when you wanted to introduce vetiver and why you wanted to introduce vetiver. See if those reasons still apply? As I recall, without looking at the video, vetiver was introduced because nothing else was growing (not even a weed) and vetiver had a 3 meter root on it and should be able to reach the water table. However, I've sense learned that no root can penetrate severely compacted soil (> 300psi) so with your hard concrete like soil, I wonder how deep the vetiver can actually penetrate. However, a lot of seed bank weeds are now growing and maybe the vetiver is no longer needed as the native species are doing the job that vetiver was hoping to achieve. The weeds will still be photosynthesizing and putting out exudates that will promote the soil biology and hopefully the whole soil food web is present so that nutrient cycling is possible. If not, introduce it. I donno. Looks like progress. The place exploded with green now that the cows and pigs are gone. Look up ecological succession on google. You have at least moved from dirt to weeds looks like. How is that 1 Tagasaste doing?

@darked89 Ай бұрын

re vetiver/soil compaction: the only way to figure it out in this particular location would be to take a pickaxe and dig around few healthy vetiver plants. Maybe the roots penetrated through the clay or maybe not. What is clear also in other location that the native plants able to start growing at lower temps will suppress a not well established vetiver. Or any other freshly planted thingy except planted i.e. using big fat rhizome. I would bet that Arundo would outsprint these still quite puny weeds easily. From the more usefull, biomass producing but not invasive one can try Micantus gigantheus. Or Napier grass which here in Catalonia seems to do way better than miscanthus (small scale experiment, not starting with the comparable rhizome mass but what I got from the supplier). Assuming that rows of vetiver on contour improve water retention it makes sense not to give up but simply plant it in continuous lines, mark the rows and keep half a meter belts next to it shaved until vetiver does not reach a meter or so. Last but not least: this is a warning for the Miyawaki forest. Without heavy mulching or weed removal any slow growing tiny young tree is at risk to follow vetiver to a green grave.

@peperillon Ай бұрын

Recognizing a failure is a good thing. I understand to want vetiver because it is green during summer, as you say maybe it is not the best plan for your climate. Your land has not the perfect shape to build a fully self sustaining system but i believe tou can still ingenier it to improve.

@mena2138 Ай бұрын

Very nice video, I still think phragmites australis will do better the work of vetiver as a water loving plant, deep roots, establish soil that is perennial all year, it cannot be eaten by animals but for now you want to create good soil and forage plants can come later.

@holgerkretz1970 Ай бұрын

Hallo, ins sommerliche Andalusien. Ich schreibe heute mal auf Deutsch, weil ich mich da besser ausdrücken kann. Die Blume in Minute 5:29 min ist keine "Kokardenblume" (lat.Gaillardia) sondern dürfte eine "Stockrose" (Alcea rosea) sein. Dass das mit dem Vetiver so nicht funktioniert ist bedauerlich, aber unter den Umständen eben auch eine natürliche Gegebenheit der Region. Ich denke, es wäre für Euch ein zu großer Aufwand, das Vetiverwachstum durch zusätzliche Pflegemaßnahmen fördern. Da gibt es bestimmt andere Maßnahmen, die einfacher umzusetzen sind und mehr bringen. Weiter so und nicht verzagen! Gruß aus dem nassen Bayern

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Ist Stockrose. Da hatte ich auch Samen :-) Das mit dem Vetiver hat gut funktioniert, aber da war der Frühling nicht so naß und heftig wie dieses Mal. Und es gab Tiere, die die anderen Pflanzen gefuttert haben. Das war diesmal nicht so. Müssen wir besser organisieren und koordinieren.

@pinkelephants1421 Ай бұрын

You might have to resort to either using goats or sheep, or, actively strimming it in a 'chop and drop' management cycle for 4-5 years in order to build up sufficient biomass and eventually, soil, before it becomes self-sustaining.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

That sounds about right. Yes

@TheEmbrio Ай бұрын

Is vetiver a michorized plant !? Or mabe it needs something else in the soil life to thrive. Anyway one has to adapt constantly. Good to document it like you do

@darked89 Ай бұрын

In short: yes, vetiver does enter into a mycorrhizal symbiosis. But since propagation is by dividing the clumps without any sterilization it is very unlikely that somehow some plants went down because of that. Certainly it can die if the especially the wet ground freezes, but the plants just next to to pond survived. The simplest explanation is that the upper parts of vetiver plants died in the winter and the emerging new branches did not have enough sunlight. Depending on the status of the vetiver clumps there is some chance that after cutting everything down in this patch, watering and weeding some vetiver plants may recover. But frankly I am not sure if it would be time and effort well spent.

@heronthere Ай бұрын

I always wonder how the land would be if you took all the money you spent and used it on water retention. Sepp Holtzer or Zach Weiss quality earthworks. On the vetiver, i was surprised how slow it woke up here in Texas. It is way behind the spring plants and grasses.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Hindsight is 20:20 ;-) Water retention does not help - unfortunately - with sandy soil that is low on organic material. It will not hold. That's what you can observe all the time with the two big swales that we dug. They are full while it's moist and then dry out too quickly for plants to really establish themselves. Vetiver wants heat and some water. 30C constantly basically.

@andrewk2338 Ай бұрын

I’m shocked that there were frosts in your place in May, I was wondering why the paulownia in Ireland looks so much better than yours.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

It was warm in early April, they started to make leaves and then early May the frost killed those leaves

@ChristopherLecky Ай бұрын

What we currently have will only amount to where we have already been,,,,, competition and collaboration are two polar opposites much like left and right, good and bad, wrong or correct and up or down they constrain your mentality and channel it into a funnel because you then on a conscious and subconscious level attempt to categorise every move you make which in doing so actually defines your intent before you attempt anything... for example good and bad,,,,, How do you then categorise their value when considering complimentary conditions? Because the conservation of information would suggest that diversity is essential yet natural selection would suggest that the destruction of information is good for any organism that remains? These are the thought processes that were used to make our interactions with the natural world in the last 500 years acceptable enough to remove all other options by way of control and bias!,,,,,,, FACT Had this not been the case the entire planet would be in a far better position....!

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Thanks for the thoughts. I suggest we have 🍻 and discuss it further ;-)

@clearingland Ай бұрын

Where has all that green gone? :)

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Summer vacation :-)

@SteveNoverini Ай бұрын

Have you considered trying Jerusalem artichoke or sunchokes?

@SteveNoverini Ай бұрын

Amorpha fruticosa? Mimosa?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

In the future. We are currently working on getting the basics right

@eleonoramarree Ай бұрын

i think the sheep you have can forrage there.do you drink the sheeps milk or make cheese with it?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

No milk without lambs and no lambs without rams

@b_lumenkraft Ай бұрын

You should really think about drip irrigation. Let me give you some arguments, please. Imagine a drop but it is 1m tall and 2 mter wide. The upper tip is tiny. And it's sitting in your soil. This is what you create with drip irrigation. The surface is dry. The water is caught in the ground and cannot easily evaporate into the air. Now, imagine a petri dish full of water you put onto a heating plate which is basically what you do with spraying the water like that. You have it very wide and not that deep. As soon as the sun comes out, all your water evaporates. Well, not all of it, of course, but more than reaches the roots.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

You might have noticed in previous videos that we are in the process of building a proper irrigation system and eventually will come to the wannabe food forest.

@b_lumenkraft Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Oh, i must have missed that. I will have a look. :)